


Hopes Not Hurts

by MeGaLoTrash



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horrortale, Babybones (Undertale), Family Fluff, Fontcest, Hints of Edgeberry, Hints of HoneyMustard - Freeform, Horrorcest - Freeform, Horrortale fan baby, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Overprotectiveness, Panic Attacks, mentions of canon HT events, swapfellcest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-14 22:49:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14146299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeGaLoTrash/pseuds/MeGaLoTrash
Summary: Blood and Sugar take their baby to meet the skeletons from alternative universes. Blood has to deal with finding a balance between protecting his family and letting his inner demons consume him.Family Fic for the lovelyFanfic Centralwho wanted a fic with their fanbaby Glou meeting the skeleton gang, also written withredtomatofanin mind as the co-creator of Glou, i hope you both like it!<3





	Hopes Not Hurts

Blood picked up Glou from his crib, rocking him while adjusting the blankets so he could see his baby’s face. He planned on soothing his son as Sugar gathered up all of the supplies they would need for their big day out. But if he was being honest, rocking Glou was exactly what he needed to calm his nerves as well. Glou was a few months old by now, but Blood still couldn’t believe he’d contributed to making something so pure. His baby gurgled happily in his arms as Blood rocked him, reassuring him that he must be doing something right if Glou enjoyed being held by him this much. Blood wandered absentmindedly around the nursery he and Sugar had painstakingly decorated as he felt his mind wander. He let himself reflect on how far his little family had come. It was a strange pastime, but it always calmed his nerves about being good enough to deserve this life.

Blood and his brother had been through hell and back to get where they were today. The nightmares both he and Sugar experienced may have dwindled down in frequency, but Blood could still recall that feeling of pure desperation they had experienced in the underground in an instant. While he still resented himself for the atrocities he’d committed in order to keep himself and Sugar alive, Blood was coming to terms that he and his brother were victims of circumstance. He may have killed innocents, feeding them to his brother and the other monsters, but if he didn’t then there would have been other deaths on his hands from letting everyone starve. It may not have been the best decision, or the correct one, but Blood had done what he had thought was right in a terrible situation. And that had to count for something. 

What had helped the most with their recovery was making connections with other universes. When they had made it to the surface with the help of a particularly resilient human things hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing. As soon as he and Sugar had managed to regain some of their health and sanity Blood had been overwhelmed with guilt over what he had done. Sugar couldn’t even snap him out of it, but one day they had been visited by versions of themselves from a different universe. Thankfully the first alternate universe they had come into contact with had been one so similar to his own. But there was one crucial difference. Papyrus and Sans had escaped the underground peacefully without ever having to go through what he and Sugar had. While Blood felt envy over their easier life, it brought him so much comfort to know that the only differences between him and Sans were entirely circumstantial. 

After much persuading he and Sugar had developed a support network with the other universes, slowly but surely getting on the road to recovery. While he met many of their alternates and got on reasonably well with the ones who didn’t try to ask too many questions, Blood spent a lot of time with Sans as his guide. Sans slowly introduced him to versions of monsters Blood despised in his own universe while helping him to talk about his darkest thoughts. Sans admitted that he would never really understand how awful it was without living through it himself, and openly stated he had no right to take a moral high-ground. No matter how much he tried not to wince when Blood went into the grittier details.

Sugar struggled for different reasons. It was hard for him to break out of his cheerful demeanour at all without having a complete meltdown over what he had done. Their whole group had been at a loss over what to do until Papyrus and Blue had come forward to help. Blood wasn’t exactly sure _what_ they did to help, but it worked. Blood noticed the change in his brother almost immediately, but dealing with his issues didn’t take away his personality. In fact, Sugar’s happiness now seemed so much more sincere. Blood wondered if Sugar had always known on some level that his previous behaviour had been a way for him to protect himself. But now Sugar seemed genuinely happy, more affectionate, and much more open to discussing things with Blood properly. That started to bring other things to the surface, things that Blood had previously given up all hope of pursuing. 

Blood may have had feelings for his brother for years, but it just wasn’t safe enough to do anything about it. But seeing some of their counterparts together and happy had given him the confidence he needed. Sugar knew he could protect him, he trusted Blood completely, and with more of his Sanity returned Blood no longer felt like he would be taking advantage of him by asking him about starting a relationship. Blood wanted to do everything to make Sugar feel safe and wanted, and thankfully Sugar felt the same way about him. It helped their recovery come on in leaps and bounds to, a fresh start with a future together to look forward too was exactly what they needed. 

Looking back it shouldn’t have been a surprise with so much love between them that Sugar had fallen pregnant, but Blood had still fainted when he heard the news. Then the panic had set in. It was one thing to start to build a life together and feel like he was fit to look after Sugar, it was entirely different to bring a baby into the world. His mind had been filled with questions; were they really fit to be parents? Could Sugar’s fragile body support a baby? What if something happened and they were sealed back in the underground? But as soon as Glou was born and Blood held him in his arms he felt his fears were replaced with the desire to protect.

Blood wasn’t perfect, but both Glou and Sugar deserved everything he had to give and he made a promise to himself to do everything he could to protect them both. He vowed to never let Sugar go through anything as bad as what they had been through in the underground as long as he lived. And he vowed to never let Glou even get close to experiencing anything like it. He was still afraid to mess up, the anxiety he had about his own worth still hung over him everyday, but he refused to live in fear any more. His family was safe now, and Blood would do anything to keep it that way. 

Which is why he was wound so tightly today. Today was the day when they were finally going to introduce Glou to their counterparts from other universes. 

It had been a long time coming. The birth and being new parents had exhausted both of them for the first few weeks, but everyone had respected their request for space. But Sugar sharing a few pictures of Glou had meant that the requests kept coming to meet their special little boy. Sugar had come round to the idea long before Blood had, and had been the reason he had finally caved and agreed to visit everyone in Papyrus and Sans’s universe today. Out of everyone both he and Sugar felt the most comfortable around them, Blood would even go so far as to call them his friends, but he was still wary of many of their other counterparts. He knew he was being overprotective, but he really didn’t like the idea of taking his precious baby to meet monsters he was still anxious about being around himself. 

“A-Are you ready brother?” Sugar asked, interrupting his train of thought and reminding Blood why he had agreed to this in the first place. Sugar looked a little nervous, but Blood knew that was only because he was beside himself with excitement over what was to come. “Do you think Glou is warm enough? I’ve packed a few toys in his bag but what if he doesn’t like them today? Do you think one tub of formula is going to be enough?”

“it’s gonna be ok shugs-” Blood said before planting a chaste kiss on his brother’s skull. “you’ve packed more than enough, sans and papyrus will have things at their home if we need them- and it takes two seconds for me to come back if we forgot something.”

The reassurance seemed to do the trick with Sugar, with him leaning into Blood and placing a kiss on their now sleeping baby’s head. Blood didn’t have the heart to tell his brother he was just as worried for different reasons. This was a big day for them all, and Sugar didn’t need to worry about him when that energy could be put towards protecting Glou. _looking after Glou._ Blood corrected himself before heading towards the machine that Sans had installed in their basement. With his magical reserves long since restored Blood had the ability to teleport between their worlds but he didn’t want to risk it when an alternative with pinpoint accuracy was available. He could still feel beads of sweat trickling down his skull when they stood in the machine though, he just couldn’t shake the feeling that _something_ was going to go wrong. 

Papyrus and Sans were the only ones in their house when they arrived, and Blood was thankful for once that he had decided to go with his brother’s insistence on being early. Blood noticed a table full of food, drinks, and a huge ‘congratulations’ banner hanging behind it. He didn’t need to imagine the frantic organizing Papyrus would have done to achieve this, he knew Sugar would be exactly the same if the situation was reversed. Even though Blood would have preferred less of a fuss being made, he didn’t want to be ungrateful when he knew Papyrus only wanted to be helpful. He was about to thank him when a gurgle from the Sugar’s arms caused Papyrus to start flapping excitedly. 

“Oh! Is He Waking Up?” Papyrus asked while Sugar gently rocked Glou, pure wonder lighting up his eyes. “Sugar He’s Beautiful! And So Big Already! He’s Going To Be Really Strong, I Know It! Does He Like-”

Blood had his attention pulled from Papyrus’s enthusiastic questions upon hearing Sans chuckling softly beside him and shaking his head. Blood thought a reaction like that would have set his nerves on edge, but he knew exactly what Sans was thinking. They both knew Papyrus was already smitten with baby Glou, and watching Sugar and Papyrus fuss the baby just felt so right. Blood wouldn’t have been surprised at all if after today Papyrus would be pestering his own brother to start trying themselves. 

“like peas in a pod.” Sans muttered under his breath before turning to Blood to offer him a handshake. “congratulations man, you’re one lucky guy.” 

Blood was a little taken aback, but he accepted the handshake anyways not really knowing what else to do. Sans seemed to notice his hesitation and backed off with a smile before going over to join his still fawning brother. Watching them approaching Sugar and his son felt unexpectedly nice, and Blood could feel pride over his little family winning over his anxieties for a while. He mulled over thoughts of the rest of the afternoon not being as bad as he anticipated if they were going to be filled with moments like this.

Blood actually found himself looking forward to it… until the front door opened revealing that everyone else had arrived at once.

The next few minutes went by in a blur. Papyrus thankfully had the sense to take Sugar and Glou into the kitchen while everyone got settled in, but that left Blood fumbling over everyone’s questions about where his family was. He knew some of them meant no harm, like Blue for example who had arrived with a huge and surprisingly edible looking cake. But some of their counterparts from the harsher universes looked pissed off that they had gone out of their way to meet Glou, only to be told they needed to wait and settle down first. Blood wondered if the likes of Edge and Black had ever even interacted with a baby from the way that they were tapping their feet impatiently. The repetitive noise sent a chill down his spine, sounding all too familiar to something from his past. Feeling his cool demeanor slipping, Blood was ready to go over and do something he would have really regretted when he heard Papyrus and Sugar coming back into the room.

Everyone, even the assholes Blood was about to tear into, fell into a hushed silence as Glou was brought into the room in Sugar’s arms. Blood had expected that some of their group would be excited to meet him, but he hadn’t anticipated _everyone_ in the room being so visible effected. It was like a spell had been cast over the room, with no one being able to tear their eyes away from baby Glou. _from his son_. Blood let himself enjoy more of the pride that was warming his soul as he watched a few of the group tentatively approach Sugar so that they could get a closer look. 

“damn, sugar’s really a natural ain’t he?” Red spoke up from where he was sat on the couch next to Blood with Stretch, both of them choosing to hang back and avoid the rush in Sugar’s direction. “heh, not so sure about you though buddy, right?”

“what the fuck do you mean by that?” Blood hissed, wary of disturbing the rest of the party even while his mind was listing off the many ways he could make Red suffer. How fucking dare he even _think_ Blood wasn’t good enough to look after his own child. Rather than continue, Red’s eye lights completely disappeared when Blood had snapped back at him and now he was waving his hands in front of himself defensively. 

“hey relax buddy, sorry i was kidding. ya know, with us being the same ‘thought ya would get it-” Red explained with sweat dripping down his skull, clearly not wanting to start the fight Blood had initially anticipated. “i ain’t usually that big on kids i mean. but ya done well, he’s real cute blood.”

Blood froze. Of course that’s what Red had meant, the only reason it had hit a nerve was because of his own paranoia. There was an awkward silence between them all that thankfully Stretch tried to dissipate. 

“heh, y-yeah don’t worry blood he’s adorable.” Stretch offered with a smile, his usual cigarette completely absent. One of Blood’s conditions for coming today was that no one did anything like smoking, drinking or any of their usual vices near the baby. Stretch seemed to be taking that completely seriously by not even having a smoke in the same room. “s’pose it’s different since it’s kinda like family.” he added, only elaborating when Red gave him a puzzled look. “y’know, since we’re all the same, our babies would look pretty similar.”

Red’s skull went from sweating to going entirely beetroot at Stretch’s words, the realization being a little too much for him to handle. He muttered something under his breath about stepping outside for a smoke before standing and walking out the room with Stretch hot on his heels. Blood would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for whatever awkward conversation was going to happen between those two, but something Blue said pulled his focus. 

“-I Mean If It’s Not Too Much To Ask, I’d Love To Hold Glou.” Blue asked Sugar before turning back to where Blood was sat to involve him too. “But Only You’re Both Ok With It?”

Blood fought his initial desire to shoot Blue down when he saw Sugar’s face. He looked nervous, and Blood couldn’t tell if it was because of Blue’s question or anticipation for Blood’s answer. He knew deep down that Blue was going to be respectful, but Blood was still unsure about taking the huge step. But the longer he left it the more everyone would see him wavering, and potentially uncover how fucking terrified he really was. Blood nodded firmly, hoping that it was the right decision and watched with bated breath as Sugar passed their son into the other skeleton’s arms.

Thankfully his instincts had been entirely correct and Blue was respectful and surprisingly confident with holding the baby. Blood allowed himself to relax a little, noticing that another one of their party seemed just as intent on watching the scene as he was. Edge was stood with Black and Slim a little further back that Blue, but his demeanour had shifted from his default ‘pissed off asshole’ to looking like he really wanted to get involved. Blood didn’t care to keep up with who was fucking who, but there was no missing the way Edge perked up the moment Glou was placed in Blue’s arms. Blood had to hold back from laughing at Edge’s complete 180, mainly because he couldn’t blame the guy. Blue was cooing and making Glou giggle by pretending to tickle him. It would have melted even the coldest of hearts, especially if Edge and Blue had something going on between them.

Blood had just been breathing a sigh of relief when the last pair of skeletons decided to involve themselves. Black had been watching the scene intently since Edge had stopped talking to them, but Slim had been watching his ‘lord’ instead. He studied Black intently for a few minutes before slinking up behind him, wrapping his arms around his brother while leaning into him. 

“would it be ok if i ask to hold the baby?” Slim asked with a voice smoother than honey.

Blood didn’t know what to make of it; the request was simple enough but why Slim thought he needed to ask Black first was beyond him. He watched as Black bristled, a faint purple sheen appearing on his skull before his trademark smirk was back. 

“Tch, I Don’t Why You Would. But Fine-” Black said before frowning when his brother left him to walk in the direction of Blue. He hesitated a second, shook his head before following his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him right before he reached the other group. “In Fact, I’m Going To Help. I Don’t Want You Messing This Up Mutt. Sugar, May I Please Hold Your Offspring?”

Blood was ready to stop them, to call an end to them using _his_ baby in whatever game they were playing when Blue transferred Glou into Black’s arms. Black gasped audibly as a tiny hand wrapped around his finger, and Slim was behind him in seconds to support him and show his brother what to do. Blood’s previous thoughts about the lack of babies in Black’s universe were pretty much confirmed with the way he was reacting. Black's eye lights were sparkling as his sockets filled with liquid magic despite his best efforts to hold back the tears. Blood knew he was seeing an entirely new side of Black and felt the guilt of judging him too harshly weighing heavily on his mind. Just like him, Black was only a product of his universe. Presented with something so pure, Black was overwhelmed. _just like he had been..._

“Are You Ok Black?” Blue asked softly, trying to show concern without intruding on what was obviously a profound moment.

“I-I- Just-”Black gasped again as Glou gurgled happily in his arms, a singular tear falling down his cheek. “Mutt Will You Hold Him I Seem To Be... I-I Can’t-” 

Slim stepped in to retrieve Glou as a few silent sobs shook his brother’s body. Blood could feel his soul resonating with Black’s as he stepped forward, ready to put their differences aside to try and offer some empathy. Black had turned to him in shock when Blood had touched his shoulder, tears streaming down his skull unchecked as he tried to regain control of his emotions. Blood tried to offer a knowing smile but ended up clenching his fist when he heard Glou start to cry.

It wasn’t his baby’s cry that was the problem though, Blood knew from experience how quickly Glou’s mood could shift, more it was everyone’s inability to be able to handle it. Slim looked like he was no longer holding a baby but a bomb, Papyrus and Blue had rushed over to try and control the situation, and everyone else was slowly moving closer as if they were going to be able to help. The noise only grew with everyone trying to weigh in, talking over each other and drowning both Sugar and Glou out almost completely. 

“-i’m sorry let me just-”

“-You’re Doing It Wrong Let Me Show-”

“-Oh Dear. Pass Him To Me And I’ll Give Him Back To-”

**“ENOUGH”**

Blood snapped. He knew immediately that he’d made a huge mistake; while his outburst did stop everyone’s frantic blabbering, Glou was also affected. He started to cry louder, and Blood felt like his soul was breaking in two. He’d really screwed up, he let his anger take hold of him and managed to fuck up what he was trying to protect. He could feel his mouth dry up as his own vision started to blur, something he hadn’t experienced since the last time he-

“It’s ok brother, he probably just wants feeding!” Sugar’s voice cut through the heavy silence with a clear enough voice to momentarily snap Blood out of his spiral. He easily took Glou out of Slim’s arms and began to rock him despite their “Papyrus will you go in my Bag? There’s formula in there- how about we show you how to make the bottle?”

Sugar headed off to the kitchen as soon as Papyrus grabbed his bad, soothing and rocking Glou as he continued to cry. Blood followed behind momentarily, everyone giving him as wide a berth as possible. Blood wasn’t sure how he felt about being feared like that again, but he was eager to get out of a room where everyone’s stares felt like they were burning him alive. Sugar was already telling Papyrus what to do when he entered the room, multitasking with trying to calm Glou down too. Without everyone around Blood buried his head in his hands, the thoughts he had been trying to keep at bay consuming him. He could feel his body locking up as he struggled to breathe. Everything he’d worked so hard to change about himself had been for nothing. There was no point in pretending he had changed when he hadn’t. He wasn’t fit to be a parent, not when he’d done all of those terrible things, not when he had killed-

“Brother? Can you hear me?” Sugar’s soft voice cut through the whirlwind in Blood’s mind, making him realize that Sugar was only feet away with a soothed Glou in his arms. “Just try and take deep breaths, everything is going to be fine. Just breathe.”

Blood couldn’t see any disappointment in Sugar’s eyes, nor was there any hatred like he had expected. All he saw was concern, and as stood to his feet Sugar didn’t shrink away. He brought Blood into a hug with his free arm, melting further into the embrace when Blood returned the embrace and went to support Glou as well. They stayed like that a while, with Sugar whispering comforting things as they both rocked their baby. Blood could feel his panic starting to fade, realizing that one mistake wasn’t going to erase everything they had together. It didn’t stop him from feeling awful about what he had done though, tears were forming in his sockets over how guilty he felt. 

“shugs…” Blood said, his voice broken as he struggled to get his breathing under control. “i’m so sorry i shouldn’t have snapped at everyone. i just… i’m so afraid i’m gonna mess up and he’s gonna get hurt.”

“It’s Not My Place To Tell You What You Should Think Blood.” Papyrus interjected with a hopeful smile on his face. “But I Think You’re Being Far Too Hard On Yourself! You’re Doing An Amazing Job In My Opinion!” 

It was Sugar’s turn to giggle quietly as Blood was left lost for words. Sugar might have tried to keep quiet as they both rocked Glou in their arms, but his knowing smile told another story. Something told Blood he was going to get treated to a playful chorus of ‘i told you so’ when they returned home. The squeak of the kitchen door opening made Blood stiffen again, but he was relieved to see that it was Sans and that he had come alone. With the ringing in his head dying down he was able to make out the sounds of music and light chatter, which was soothing in itself.

Still, Blood couldn’t help asking the obvious. “are they mad?” he directed towards Sans, needing the reassurance to be able to calm down completely. 

“naa, don’t worry buddy. they get it.” Sans said, closing the door behind him. “i think everyone just got real excited meeting glou, and i’m pretty sure there’s gonna be some _interesting_ conversations to come later.”

Sans winked at his brother, making Papyrus turn back into a vibrant shade of orange. Blood was thankful that Sans had managed to slip in a joke, and he smirked imagining all the different couples having to skirt around each other for a while. The microwave chimed and Sugar instructed Papyrus on how to test if the bottle was at the right temperature. Satisfied Papyrus came over to bring the bottle to Sugar and Blood, but Blood stopped him before he handed the bottle over.

“do you wanna feed ‘im?” he asked, pushing down the part of himself that was still trying to tell him what he was doing was wrong.

It was Papyrus’s turn to be speechless then, but Sugar felt confident enough that his answer was a yes to start handing Glou over. Sans had joined in to help by holding the bottle and with minimal instruction from Sugar helped Papyrus to get Glou in the right position to feed him. Blood felt his soul swelling with pride again when Glou started suckling, the look of pure joy in Papyrus’s eyes being so familiar to him. Sugar snuggled back into Blood, kissing the side of his skull as they watched Papyrus and Sans fawn over their baby.

It may not have been a perfect afternoon, but as Blood held his brother in his arms he only felt hope for their future. The idea that Glou was most likely going to have some playmates in the near future filled him with an odd feeling. Maybe it was because like Stretch had said, they were in some ways one big family. Any babies born from their group would be like siblings or cousins to Glou. And who knows? Maybe he and Sugar could even think about having some more of their own...


End file.
